In 1937, Walt Disney Studios shot Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with a new-fangled camera, the multiplane camera, which allowed cartoon animation to take a quantum leap forward. Thanks to this new “super cartoon camera,” animated scenes suddenly looked more realistic and three-dimensional. You only need to watch this presentation by Walt Disney himself (recorded in 1957) and you’ll see what I mean. Disney shot many of its classic feature films – Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi, and Peter Pan – with the multiplane camera, and it remained in production right through The Little Mermaid, filmed in 1989. Today, only three original Disney multiplane cameras survive.

A big thanks to Sergey for sending this vintage clip our way. If you see a good piece of open culture, don’t hesitate to send it our way…

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Open Culture editor Dan Colman scours the web for the best educational media. He finds the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & movies you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.